Federal immigration authorities arrested a Palestinian activist on Saturday who played a prominent role in the protests against Israel at Columbia University, a significant escalation in the Trump administration's promise to detain and deport student activists.
Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student at Columbia until last December, was at his university residence on Saturday night when ICE agents entered the building and detained him, his lawyer Amy Greer told The Associated Press.
Greer stated that she spoke on the phone with one of the ICE agents during the arrest, who mentioned they were acting under orders from the State Department to revoke Khalil's student visa. When informed by the lawyer that Khalil was in the U.S. with a green card, the agent also stated they were revoking that, according to the lawyer.
Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin confirmed Khalil's arrest in a statement on Sunday, describing it as "in support of President Trump's executive orders prohibiting anti-Semitism".
Khalil's arrest is the first publicly known deportation effort under Trump's promised crackdown on students who joined protests against the war in Gaza that spread across university campuses last spring. The government has claimed that participants waived their rights to remain in the country by supporting Hamas.
McLaughlin noted that Khalil's arrest was directly related to his role in the protests, alleging that he "led activities aligned with Hamas, a designated terrorist organization."
When ICE agents arrived at the campus building on Saturday, they also threatened to arrest Khalil's wife, a pregnant U.S. citizen eight months along, Greer indicated.
Initially, they were informed he had been taken to an immigrant detention center in Elizabeth, New Jersey. However, when his wife tried to visit him on Sunday, she found out he was not there. Greer stated she still did not know Khalil's whereabouts until Sunday night.
"We have not been able to get more details on why he is being detained," Greer told The Associated Press. "This is a clear escalation. The government is following through on its threats."
A Columbia spokesperson detailed that agents must present a warrant before entering university property but declined to say if the school had received one before Khalil's arrest. The spokesperson also declined to comment on Khalil's detention.
In a message shared on X on Sunday night, Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that the government will "revoke visas and/or green cards of Hamas sympathizers in the U.S. so they can be deported."
The Department of Homeland Security can initiate deportation proceedings against green card holders for a wide range of alleged criminal activities, including supporting a terrorist group. However, detaining a legal permanent resident who has not been charged with a crime marked an extraordinary move with uncertain legal grounds, according to immigration experts.
"This appears to be a retaliatory measure against someone who expressed an opinion that the Trump administration did not like," lamented Camille Mackler, founder of Immigrant ARC, a coalition of legal service providers in New York.
Khalil, who received his master's degree from Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs last semester, acted as an intermediary for students negotiating with university authorities regarding the end of the tent camp set up on campus last spring, a role that made him one of the most visible activists supporting the movement, prompting calls from pro-Israel activists in recent weeks for the Trump administration to begin deportation proceedings against him.
Khalil was one of those investigated by a new office at Columbia University that has brought disciplinary charges against dozens of students who have expressed criticism of Israel, according to records shared with the AP.
These inquiries come as the Trump administration has followed through on its threat to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to Columbia due to what the government describes as the Ivy League school's failure to curb anti-Semitism on campus.
The university's accusation against Khalil focused on his involvement in the Columbia University Apartheid Divest group, alleging that he helped organize an "unauthorized march event" where participants glorified Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack and played a "substantial role" in circulating social media posts criticizing Zionism, among other acts of alleged discrimination.
"I have around 13 charges against me, most are social media posts I had nothing to do with," Khalil told the AP last week.
"They just want to show Congress and right-wing politicians that they are doing something, regardless of the consequences for students," he added. "It's mainly an office to silence pro-Palestine speech."